Street Directories

Birth Records Index

The birth certificates in the Museum's collection document some births in Wilmette and Gross Point between the years 1872 and 1926. Except for a few certificates from the 1920s, the majority of these documents are delayed birth registrations, filed between 1940 and 1946 by Dr. Martin Seifert, M.D., registrar and head of the Wilmette Health Department.

St. Joseph’s Cemetery Database

St. Joseph Cemetery is one of the oldest in the Chicago area, dating back to the 1840s. This database, compiled by Museum staff, records every existing marker (as of 2012) in the cemetery, along with information from other documents about the people interred there. If you don’t see your ancestor’s name here, it does not mean she/he is not buried at St. Joseph. Some graves probably never had markers and some markers have probably disappeared.

Other Websites

There are many other resources available to people working on local and family history. Here is a brief selection.